by Warren, Rie
I believed Lucky when he said he and his brothers hadn’t been involved in last night’s attack.
That meant their father could launch another assault at any time.
Better to do away with him as proposed and grab a nice chunk of the cocaine business in the process.
Killing was easy, especially with a fucking scumbag like that.
Keeping truces was harder.
“I’m taking her upstairs.” Encircling Jo’s wrist with my fingers, I said to Arkady, “Make yourself scarce tonight.”
“What about Yury?”
“I’ll talk to him in the morning.”
End of discussion.
In the apartment, I left Jo standing in the living room while I locked up my weapons with her switchblade and phone.
I usually preferred to keep the KA-BAR and at least one Walther tucked close to me by the bed when I slept, but the chances of this woman going rogue suddenly seemed less likely.
I poured a couple shots of vodka and offered her one.
Her nose wrinkled. “I’d prefer whiskey.”
I snorted. “Of course you would.”
I downed the shot meant for her then made her a drink.
As I leaned against the island, close to my bottle, she sank onto the arm of a sofa.
“There’s one thing I don’t understand.” I took my second shot then poured some more.
“Just one?” Some of her spunk returned, and her green-gold eyes sparked to life above the rim of her tumbler.
“All this stuff about you being a mystery and your father keeping you under lock and key except for the men—”
She straightened up. “What did Lucky tell you?”
“It’s not what he told me, it’s what you haven’t.”
Gulping the rest of her whiskey, she held her glass out for more.
I obliged, and the entire time she skirted my eyes.
“With all this shit regarding your father and how he mistreats you—”
She pointedly glanced away, jutting that delicate, stubborn chin.
“How is it he lets you drive around in that big old truck all over Boston doing deliveries?”
Her cheeks sucked in. “That’s the price I demanded from him. So I wouldn’t tell . . .” Her voice faltered for a second. “I wouldn’t tell anyone about what he does to me. What he makes me do.”
I swallowed a swell of feelings along with my vodka. “Your brothers or at least Lucky seems to know.”
She pursed her lips together, shaking her head.
“What does your father make you do, Jo?” I hoped to hell she’d tell me it was just about the men that ripe piece of shit was bartering her off to.
To the highest bidder.
As if that wasn’t degrading enough.
I had a feeling there was more . . . something even her brothers didn’t know.
Abnormally reticent, she rubbed her whiskey tumbler back and forth between her palms.
“Do you trust me?” I asked.
She scoffed, her gaze roaming all over me. “The man who kidnapped me?”
“Drop the act.” I leaned toward her. “You could’ve run off with your brothers or caused a scene or told them I was a monster or something, and you didn’t.”
“They used me,” Jo whispered.
“What?” Standing up straight, I slammed my glass onto the island. “Who? Your brothers?”
“No! Not them. I don’t even think they know.” Her voice fell. “I hope they don’t know. Not about this.”
Her voice trembled, but not her.
Never her.
Looking straight into my eyes, she blurted it all out. “One of the reasons everyone is so loyal to my da is because he lets them use me. He makes me sleep with them, the soldiers.”
Full-fledged fury leaped through my veins, and I would’ve crushed my glass if I still held it in my hand.
Hard eyes on her equally glassy ones, I gritted out, “Then I will fucking kill them all.”
16
Jo
“THEN I WILL KILL them all.”
Kirill uttered the lethal threat in a stony hard voice that vibrated through the air.
His immediate rage lit up his dazzlingly dark eyes, and the sheer size of him seemed to multiply.
Formidable.
Unstoppable.
Undeniably powerful.
But . . .
I returned to my drink, taking another large swallow of the top-shelf whiskey.
Then I met his storm-ridden gaze with undaunted strength of my own. “I won’t be anybody’s charity case, at my brothers’ behest or not.” My chin notched higher. “I don’t see how you’re different from any of the other men, Kirill.”
Lit into action, he stalked toward me.
The breathtaking angles of his face—his sharp jaw, stubbled chin, and bold eyes—kept me glued to the spot.
He gently clasped both my cheeks, framing my features in long rough fingers. “Because, I’m not just keeping you for collateral anymore. I want you, Joanna.”
Unable to withstand the depth of his gaze, I dropped my head down, hiding behind a curtain of hair.
Hair he swept from my face as he slanted my head back up.
“Why do you hate being as beautiful as you are?” Kirill asked.
I drew in a staggered breath, heated from his simple touch and sincere words.
“I don’t hate who I am or how I look. I hate being used because of who I am and how I look.”
“Let me show you how I see you.” His fingers skimmed down to settle on my neck. “I don’t want to use you. I want to fuck you.”
My breath skipped again, and my entire body tingled.
Hard and hot, sculpted and firm, he brushed his lips over mine, and I couldn’t withhold the moan tumbling from my lips.
I couldn’t stop the rush that made me tip up to him, on my toes, bracing my forearms against his chest.
His tongue made a tempting swipe across my mouth. Then an outline of my lips.
He danced across the seam of my mouth, parting me for him.
And I knew my body would open and part for him too.
He hauled me against him where heat compounded, and my pulse pounded.
The guttural timbre of his groan pulled me even deeper into his thorough kiss. His erection branded my belly, and I couldn’t forget how big he was, how immensely he’d filled my mouth.
Lifting me up, Kirill carried me around the large leather sofa. He eased down, his mouth still slanted across mine. When he made me straddle him, I almost felt like I was in control.
A wicked blaze began between my thighs which were split wide around him. I ground into him, wet heat building as our kiss became a hungry, unrestrained thing.
I abandoned all reason, plunging my tongue into the divine heat of his mouth.
Kirill cupped my bottom, drawing me up and down the thick hardness inside his pants.
Ripping my mouth free, I struggled to get my voice to work through fast breaths. “What about Arkady?”
Right there in the middle of the living room, Kirill rolled my top up and off.
He nuzzled between my breasts, spreading vibrations all across my flesh. “You heard me send him away for the night.”
“You already had plans for me, didn’t you, Kirill?” My fingers twisted into his hair, and I licked along the angular plane of his jaw.
His head cranked back for a second while I explored the texture of his dark stubble and the strong cords of his throat with my tongue leading the way.
Then he drew my mouth back to his.
He bit, suckled, then nuzzled my bottom lip. “I never know what’s coming next with you.” Rocking against me, he created another flood of unquenchable fire. “That’s become what I like about you.”
“Oh yeah?” I sat up straighter, tossing my hair aside. “You do like danger in your life.”
With an animal-like growl, he snapped my bra open and yanked it off me. His head descended as he bent me over
the arm wrapped around my waist.
Obsidian irises delved briefly into mine. “Definitely. Especially when it comes to you.”
His lips slid from my neck to my breasts, and he made circular paths around them with his tongue.
A gasp left my mouth, and I trembled.
Glancing at me, Kirill took one entire areola between his lips. He lathed and licked, plucking my nipples into his mouth as he molded my flesh with his hands.
“Aaah.” I shuddered as his lips sealed over a taut rosy peak. “So good.”
His tanned skin was so strong and dark against me, and we almost glowed together in the hazy lights of the Boston nightscape filtering inside through the giant windows.
I writhed on his lap, trying to get closer to his mouth. I wanted him to swallow me whole.
I wanted to run my hands all over him.
Breath gusting from my chest, I bent over him as he continued to lick and suckle me into swollen desire.
I reached for the buttons on his shirt, hastily pulling and tugging them. One of the buttons popped free and went flying across the room. I didn’t care, digging his shirttails from his pants.
“Impatient?” There was a chuckle in his low voice.
“I want you. I want all of you too.”
I almost whined as he nimbly flicked open his cuffs.
I helped wrench the shirt from his powerful shoulders and down his equally formidable arms. Then I slipped back just far enough to grab at his belt.
Kirill’s deep breaths made my hair flutter at my temples, then he caught my earlobe between his teeth.
I hissed at his light bites, trying to make my fingers work. Finally, I unbuckled his belt and opened the very top of his trousers. My palm skimmed up from the huge hard bulge hidden inside—his grunt a throbbing masculine sound at my ear—and ran my hands all over his extraordinary chest and shoulders.
Behind me, I heard him kicking off his shoes and, while I explored the full depth and breadth of his torso, he got rid of my boots and socks too.
Just our lower halves remained covered.
Our mouths meshed together again, impatience overriding everything but sheer impulsive need.
We slid together, and I moaned greedily when the thick formation of his cock pressed against my center.
His cock, his body, his mouth the only things that could satisfy me. The only things that could stir me in this way.
He opened my jeans, suddenly diving inside the back to find my bare skin beneath panties.
Kirill squeezed and palmed my ass, pulling me more forcefully against the most rigid part of his body.
“Yes,” I whispered in a throaty tone, desperation climbing inside of me and spiking my temperature.
My mouth coasted from his throat to his pecs, and I lavished him with my tongue. Only when my hands ran along his ribcage, did I pause.
Sitting slightly back as Kirill slipped one large hand along my spine, I saw all the scars on his body.
Knife wounds and bullet holes puckered over and healed.
But the one I touched was my scar.
So many old wounds littered his body—mine were mostly hidden inside.
I brushed my fingertips along his ribs, watching as a scattering of goosebumps traveled across his flesh and over his muscles. “I’m sorry for this.”
“Sorry for . . .” He glanced down to where my fingers gently splayed.
Then his dark hooded gaze flicked to my face. “You did this to me?” Disbelief shaded his voice. “You were there the night that started all this?”
I nodded but, before he could say anything else, I scooted back and leaned low.
My hair flicked across his tensed abs. My hands explored his deep pelvic grooves. My mouth swept across the mark I’d caused.
I kissed the small round scar then licked and almost nursed on it. The taste of his skin and the texture of his flesh made me hungry for more.
“Fuck.” He cursed in a tortured tone.
“My aim was off.” I sat up, licking my lips that swelled from his ravenous kisses.
Growling, Kirill pushed me to my feet.
I stumbled for a moment before steadying myself on his shoulders.
He quickly tore down my jeans and panties, and I kicked them off.
His rush to get at me made fire sizzle all along my body.
“That is why I don’t let you play with weapons,” he muttered darkly.
Another shudder worked through me, multiplying when he hauled me against his face.
He kissed my belly.
He pushed my legs apart.
He dove even lower and took one sensuous lick up the center of my pussy where I ached for him.
“Please.” A whimper escaped me.
He murmured against my sex, dipping his tongue into my slit, and I almost swooned, swaying on my feet.
Gasping now, I slipped my fingers along his wide shoulders. “What do I get to play with, then, if you’re intent on keeping me away from weapons?”
Kirill stood abruptly, and my naked body pressed against his before he nudged me back.
I stared at him, tingling from head to toe, shaking with sheer desire.
He towered so tall above me that I couldn’t look away from his magnificent body as he shed the rest of his clothes.
My insides clenched. More heat dripped from me. My flesh pulsed, and we nearly touched.
His rugged form dizzied me.
With a smirk anchoring his taut expression, he sat back down, and I gulped.
His cock throbbed, the upright girth spinning my lust into the atmosphere.
He wrapped a fist around the base of his shaft, his cock throbbing, the broad crown engorged beyond belief, and I licked my lips.
Kirill notched his head at me, watching from half-mast eyes. “Come here. I’ll give you something to play with.”
I wasn’t thinking about revenge. I wasn’t thinking about retaliation or the kidnapping or blackmail when I stepped slowly toward him.
I only thought about riding him to oblivion.
My hips rolled.
My hair fanned out.
My body magnetized to his, and for the first time ever, I became purely woman.
Only for Kirill.
His glittering gaze touched every part of me in a bold lingering sweep as I lowered myself onto his lap.
His strong thighs supported me easily.
His strong lips feasted on mine again.
I touched him again, finally.
Circling as much of his cock in my hand as I could, I reveled when the hot length bucked within my grasp.
His groan left dampness on my lips, and we both looked down.
I eased my palm up the pole already slick with precum that steadily welled from the slit in the head.
How could something so unutterably virile and potent be encased in hot velvet silkiness?
I learned what made his head fall back, the muscles in his thighs and abs jump . . . what made him grunt out my name in the dirtiest tone I’d ever heard.
His hand slipped between my legs, and I hunched closer with a grunt of my own.
He palmed my sex, thumb rotating across my clit and two long fingers sliding into my slit for slow languorous pumps that made my head loll on my neck.
My spine arched.
My voice faltered when I moaned his name.
His fingers coaxed me quickly to almost-orgasm, but I wanted to bring him with me.
I wanted to know how much I affected him.
As I stroked him from thick base to engorged crown, another drop of clear essence drizzled out.
I swiped my fingertips across his glans. Then I brought his flavor to my lips and sucked his taste onto my tongue.
His cock lurched in my hold.
He expelled a ragged curse, and his arm flew out. He quickly yanked open a drawer in the side table and came up with a condom.
I should’ve been irked that he had condoms stashed all over the place. But I wasn’t. He couldn’
t get the blasted thing on fast enough as far as I was concerned. For once I was fully alive and wanting all of this.
All of him.
His oh-so-nimble fingers made quick work of the condom, and I bit my lip, riding up to my knees so I hovered just above that long hard pole.
“Sit on my cock, Joanna,” he commanded.
He wouldn’t be denied.
I wouldn’t fight him.
Only when he liked it.
I cried out the moment the wide head began breaching me. My blunt nails dug into his chest. My head lowered to where our two bodies began joining, and I panted out low moans.
That thick length barely inside me, and I needed all of him.
I slowly sank lower, insanely hot all over. Desperate to be filled to completion, I gyrated down on him, and the deeper he got, the hotter I became.
When I looked back up, his nostrils flared and his lips thinned. “I want you to take it all.”
He won’t be denied.
I won’t fight him.
Only when he likes it.
I swiveled my hips, riding up and down the first few inches of him. The stretch of him, the girth of him, the sheer length of his cock made my belly ripple.
I gained another couple of inches, and there was still so much more to go.
My eyes shut.
My lips parted.
My body opened.
Opened for Kirill.
Everything in me clamped down on that impossibly big intrusion, and I felt my wetness slicking along the rest of his shaft. I felt the inner pulses of my pussy convulse around him.
I felt him.
Heat coursed down my back like a lightning bolt.
Impaling myself farther, I bowed backward as an achingly full sensation wracked my entire being.
“Oooooh.” The moan wrenched from my throat.
With onr of his hands wrapped around my waist, Kirill lunged up to thrust more inside. “Is that all you’ve got, malyshka?”
I slanted my head down to brush my lips over his. “Never.”
17
Kirill
“IS THAT ALL YOU’VE got, malyshka?”
“Never.”
I didn’t doubt it for a second.